


Fateful meeting

by Inukistar



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 17:47:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11696736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inukistar/pseuds/Inukistar
Summary: Prompto is just a normal teenager who was running an errand for Cindy. However, nights are not safe in Eos...





	Fateful meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Part of a small series for my friend Annette. :)

 

_“You will never ride a chocobo! You’re too fat! The poor bird will be crushed under your weight!”_

That was only one of the many sentences Prompto heard when he dared to talk _once_ about his interest to chobocos and his desire to ride one. Some were mean. Others were meant to be funny. A few wanted to make him realize that he had limitations due to his physique.

It turned out the joke was on them all as he was now 16, slim, well in shape and riding a freaking chocobo through the night. He didn’t have the money or the time to own such an animal, but thankfully, he earned enough to rent his favorite bird over long periods. He was a well-known customer at the Wiz Chocobo Post and the owner took a liking to him as Prompto was probably among the customers who took great care of his birds whenever he was renting them. He could tell for himself as the young man never went very far and the owner, old man Wiz, had witnessed Prompto’s many actions around the chocobos. If he had any job openings, he would have proposed a job to Prompto in a heartbeat.

Although, tonight, Wiz would have objected to the blond taking a chocobo for a risky delivery. There had been an increase of daemons lately and sightings of vampires had also grown around the city. However, Prompto couldn’t say no to the lady who asked him to do it and it was just a quick trip to the next town and back. He was already on his way home and he could see the lights of Hammerhead ahead. Everything was going well. Even the shadow he thought he noticed earlier was gone. No doubt it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

Then daemons started to come out of the ground.

“Aw, come on! I was almost home!” He objected before urging his chocobo to ride faster. It was like racing through a road full of holes, but instead of holes, they were daemons. His eyes were fixated on the lights ahead. If only he could reach them, the monsters would vanish and he would be saved. He just had to reach them. He just---

An iron giant caught the leg of his chocobo as it was pulling itself out of the ground, making Prompto fall off from his chocobo. He landed abruptly on his side, breaking the portable light he had. “No, no, no!” He turned around and saw the daemon slowly standing up. The poor chocobo kept chirping in fear and Prompto could only relate all too well.

That was the night he was going to die.

A lot of things went through his mind. What would his parents say? Would they even care? Anyone from school? Would Wiz forgive him to have taken one of his chocobos for a stupid errand? Would Cindy cry and feel guilty to have asked him to do this delivery?

Frozen by fear, he watched, powerless, as the iron giant lifted the chocobo by its leg and made a step closer to him. The portable light on the chocobo moved frantically as the bird flapped its wings and squirmed helplessly, lighting on the giant’s sword and its face from beneath it, which made Prompto whimpered. He knew he was done for, but somehow, he summoned enough courage to reach for his gun. He refused to let the poor chocobo suffer for his mistake.

He emptied his barrel on the hand holding the poor yellow bird and by some miracle, the daemon let go of its first prey. The chocobo hurriedly lumped away, leaving his rider behind, in the dark, with the iron giant and the other lesser daemons that popped out earlier. Hands shaking, Prompto tried to reload his gun, trying to ignore the glowing red eyes of the monsters coming closer. He wasn’t going to make it easy for those bastards to kill him. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He wanted to curl into a ball and wait for it to be over. But dammit, if there was a slight chance for him to get out of there alive, he was going to take it, no matter how shaky his hands were.

A bright blue flash lighted the area for a second and the iron giant growled. Its right arm had been cut off by the light. Prompto wasn’t sure of what happened after that. He kept seeing the flash moving around and every time, it left a silhouette of a person behind. Those silhouettes helped Prompto to see a bit more in the dark and by the time his eyes were used to it, the daemons had been dealt with. A lone young man stood among the vanishing fumes of the monsters.

“Hey… You ok?” He turned and asked Prompto.

Still on the ground, the teenager pushed himself up in a sitting position. The silhouettes started to vanish one after another, each light taking away a detail of his savior’s face. He wasn’t much taller than him, had dark spiky hair and pale colored skin. Nothing strike him as out of the ordinary aside of how he fought.

“Y-Yeah. Thanks. I… I thought I was a goner.” Prompto admitted and finally stood up. He dusted his pants as much as he could, but he will have to throw everything in the washing machine once he was home. He did drag himself hard on the ground to get away from the daemons as much as he could as he tried to reload his gun and his pants were beyond dirty.

The mysterious person seemed to wish to add something more when a small chirp made the blond sighed in relief. It was with a smile that he welcomed back his chocobo.

“Hey there, buddy… I’m sorry.” Prompto pet the bird and looked at its leg. “I won’t be able to hide that from Wiz. I guess he’ll take away my membership card for a while.”

“What were you doing out here at this hour? Don’t you know that daemons have grown in numbers lately?” The stranger shook his head before crossing his arms.

“Yeah, but I wanted to help a friend with a delivery. No one else wanted to take the job and it was really important to get it done before tomorrow.” Prompto was glad that the chocobo was back, especially because its portable light was still functional. The blond could notice that his rescuer stayed away from him and the light. Did he have something to hide?

Probably, because there was no way he could be scared of Prompto. He did empty his gun on a metallic opponent on a wild guess it would save his chocobo even if the bullets kept bouncing off the monster.

“Hey… I’ll escort you back to town.” The other young man changed the subject quite rapidly after looking behind him. “We don’t want you to get caught in another daemons attack, right?”

“For sure. Oh!” He held out his hand. “I’m Prompto by the way. What’s your name?”

Even if the young man couldn’t see his face, the stranger’s body language revealed his hesitation.

“Noctis.” He finally said as he stepped into the light and shook the hand he was offered.

“Sweet! Is it ok if I call you Noct?” Prompto was already walking ahead besides his chocobo.

The familiarity which Prompto used to talk to Noctis made the latter uncomfortable. “Why? My name isn’t short enough for you?”

“Nah! I just like the sound of it!” Prompto laughed a bit. “But yeah… I’m sorry. Too soon I guess. I bet only your closest friends call you that though.”

“Ah… Yeah. I guess.” Noctis shrugged following the blond from a safe distance still. He kept walking in silence while the other young man filled the silence with his chatter. He talked about a lot of random things and as they reached the city’s limits, Noctis had to ask. “Listen… You do know what I am, right? I mean, you saw how I beat those daemons.”

“Yeah. You’re a vampire.” There was no hesitation in Prompto’s answer and that threw Noctis out of the loop even more.

“Aren’t you…afraid? Concerned? Worried? I mean, maybe I just saved you to suck you dry.” He asked the chocobo rider, but he only chuckled at his questions.

“Dude, if you wanted to suck me dry, you would have done so earlier, right? Besides, Lady Lunafreya said to not fear you guys. You’re just like other people. Some of you are good and some of you are bad. Just like we humans.” Prompto shrugged. “You save me so I think you’re one of those good people.”

“People, huh?” Noctis couldn’t help but laugh at the word. No one ever called him that before and that was saying something. “You’re weird.”

“Yeah, I know.” Prompto looked at his feet and Noctis couldn’t help but think he hit a sore spot.

“Not that’s a bad thing! It’s…a good weird. I mean… No one ever called me a person before. So it’s…refreshing.” Again, he folded his arms over his chest and glanced sideways. “I’m glad you made it to the city safely. You better go and try to heal your chocobo. I bet that iron giant just sprained its leg or dislocate it. If you take care of it quickly, it won’t have any lasting problems with it.”

“You’re probably right. But I’m still going to get the lecture of the year by old man Wiz. He’ll never trust me again. I guess that’s what I get for being an idiot and didn’t manage my time before nightfall properly.” Prompto gently pat the chocobo and the bird happily chirped at him.

“Ok. Take care then, Prompto.” Noctis awkwardly waved and turned his back.

“W-Wait!” The blond called after him and Noctis stopped. “Will I…ever see you again?”

“What?” Noctis couldn’t believe his ears.

“Is…that a bad thing?” Prompto rubbed the back of his head.

“No. Just…very unusual.” The vampire said.

“Well, you did say I was weird so…” The blond tried to laugh it off again.

“In a good way!” Noctis quickly added. Then an awkward silence fell between them and the vampire chuckled after a while. “You know what? Why not?”

“Really?!” The smile the blond offered to Noctis could have been as bright as the sun itself. “Wait… If I give you my address, are you going to sneak inside my house to suck my blood without me knowing? Is it like I invited you in? Or…is that just another vampire myth?”

“Oh! So you _do_ have prejudices after all.” Noctis teased him with a grin that revealed his fangs.

“What? No! I just--- Aw come on! That’s not fair!” Prompto objected.

And Noctis laughed like he hadn’t laugh in years.

\---

“So how did it go with that man you mentioned last night? Wiz?” Noctis sat next to Prompto on his rooftop. Both had their legs dangling over the backyard. The night before, they agreed to meet again at Prompto’s house and the blond was more than happy to see that Noctis kept his promise.

“Better than I expected, all things considered. I have to tend to the wounded chocobo and clean the stables for a month.” Prompto explained with a shrug. “I’m going to stink for a while.”

“Whine as much as you like, I’ll be the one stuck smelling you.” The vampire grinned.

The teenager couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah… I guess you’re right.” He was happy that Noctis came back. Truth to be told, he wasn’t sure he would. There wasn’t a lot of people who wanted to be his friend and hang out with him.

“What did your parents say?” Noctis asked nonchalantly, thinking about what his own father would say if he knew that he left the safety of Insomnia without his Shield for the second night in a row.

“Ah… Hmmm… They don’t know yet. They aren’t home.” Again, the blond shrugged, as if it wasn’t that big of a deal. However, his new friend (was he even allowed to think of him like that?) gave him an odd look and he knew he had to explain a bit more his family situation. “They’re away for business. They do that a lot. So, I’m mostly all by myself here.”

“Sounds like a lonely life.” Noctis agreed and looked at the stars. “But you know, you can also feel lonely even when you’re surrounded by a lot of people.”

“Is this your case?” Prompto looked at him then followed his gaze up to the sky.

“I have…a title back home. People treat me accordingly to it, but… Not many know me for just being me, you know?” The vampire didn’t wish to go into the details and he was glad that his friend didn’t ask for them.

“Hmmm… I guess you and I are a bit the same then.” Prompto said without thinking and leaned back on the rooftop.

That comment pulled Noctis’ gaze from the stars and back to the human besides him. To be fair, he never paid attention to anyone before, even back home. Sure, he had his advisor and his Shield. Both were extremely important to him, but Prompto? He made Noctis feel like a person. Not a vampire. Not a monster. Just…him.

“Yeah… Yeah I think we are.” The vampire followed his friend’s example and lied down.

“I just had to ask… How old are you?” Prompto tried to sound natural.

“Oh… I’m 16.” Noctis shrugged.

“Wait, what?” Immediately, the blond turned and popped himself on his elbow. “Dude, stop pulling my leg!”

“I’m not!” The vampire laughed and turned his face to look at Prompto’s skeptical expression.

“Come on! You can’t be as old as me! Are you sure you didn’t forget a digit or two in there?” Prompto squinted his eyes at him.

“Would you feel more comfortable around me if you thought I was 216 instead of 16?” Noctis found the whole situation amusing and tried to not laugh too much at Prompto.

“Are you?” The blond asked with a face that was so easy to read that the vampire couldn’t hold it any longer.

“Seriously! Make up your mind!” Noctis laughed.

“It’s just---! I don’t know! You guys are supposed to be old and stuff! How can you be just 16?” Prompto sat up and messed his hair with both hands as he tried to ponder about the situation. “What are my chances to meet a vampire of my age?”

“We’re not that much different from humans.” The young vampire pointed out. “We do have old dudes around, but there are a lot more vampires of about my age than you think.”

“Seriously?!” The teenager leaned forward. “Tell me more about you! All I’ve heard are rumors and what the Nilfheim Empire have been saying, but---”

“I think you have heard quite enough.” A calm and even voice said behind Prompto. The young man felt a chill down his spine and slowly turned around. Piercing green eyes glared at him while another larger man frowned at Noctis. The young vampire cursed under his breath while the blond hurried behind him, a scream stuck in his throat. “I would be grateful if you did not scream. You two have been talking loudly enough as it is at this hour of the night and the last thing we need is a neighbor calling the police.”

“Right.” Noctis sighed, resigned to his fate. He didn’t notice them coming at all. Then again, they were his bodyguards. If they couldn’t sneak up on people when needed, they wouldn’t be good ones.

“How about we go talk inside?” The tall man with green eyes suggested. “There are things that need to be discussed and a rooftop is not the friendliest place to do so.”

After he got a nod from Noctis, Prompto agreed to let them inside his home. They all came down from the rooftop, as if they were all humans, and went inside. Out of habit, the blond turned on the lights whenever he entered a new room. The larger man of the two newcomers groaned every time he did, squinting his eyes each time. It was more a bother than something really affected him, but each of his grunts made Prompto more nervous than before. He barely looked at the two men who came for Noctis, wondering if he’ll live through the night.

Prompto’s home looked just like any other house: well furnished, walls decorated with random pictures of various landscapes of Eos and Prompto’s family (there was none with the three of them together though), clean floors and aside from the dishes in the sink from the teenager’s previous meal, the kitchen was impeccable. Without much thought, the blond led his guests to the living room and sat down as far as possible from the newcomers.

“We’re not going to eat you.” The large man impatiently told him, but it only made Prompto sunk more into his sofa.

“Stop it, Gladio! Can’t you see you’re making him nervous?” Noctis finally spoke and stood in front of the young man.

“Nervous? You sure he’s not going to pee himself because he’s too scared of us?” Gladio growled.

“Enough, Gladio.” The other man pushed up his glasses up his nose. “Noct, you have left the city without us for the second night in a row. I can close my eyes for the first time. I know you wish to have some time alone, but you are pushing your luck by going this far twice. Do you have an explanation for this?”

“I went out last night to forget about the pressure.” He replied with a shrug. “Tonight, I had a promise to keep.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Gladio growled once more. As his question went unanswered, he pointed at Prompto. “Is it because of him?”

The blond didn’t like the way Gladio was talking about him, but damn… He was hot. The teenager didn’t know if it was his own taste or if he fell for some weird vampire hormone or smell thing. Or maybe it had to do with the fact the guy was exposing his chest and abs to the world. Wait… Was…was that a tattoo on his chest? On his arms? How big was---

“Prompto?”

Whoever called his name pulled him out of his thoughts and he sat up straight again. He almost forgot he was in trouble for just hanging out with someone. Yeah… He won’t see Noctis after tonight, wasn’t he? No one ever stayed anyway.

“Y-Yeah?” He tried to sound alert, but the three guests caught on his hesitation.

“You were not listening, were you?” The man with the glasses sighed.

“Oh… I know what you’re going to say. Noctis has to go back and he can’t be friends with a human. It’ll be too dangerous for him to hang out with me, a poor guy who can barely shot straight.” Prompto looked down as he said those words. “It’s alright. I get it. I’m just… I’m glad he saved my life last night. And he kept his promise to see me tonight. It means a lot to me.”

An awkward silence filled the room. That was usually the cue people had to just leave Prompto by himself. His hands tightened their grip on his knees while his eyes refused to move from the spot on the floor he had been staring at, waiting to see the feet in his peripheral vision turn around and vanish from his sight.

“You clearly were not listening.” Again, the man with the glasses sighed and shook his head. “I asked you why you asked our prince to meet him tonight.”

“P-Prince?” Prompto’s eyes widened.

“The cat is out of the bag now.” Noctis sounded annoyed. “Thanks a lot, Ignis.”

“You’re… You’re the prince of all vampires? Seriously?” The teenager asked again.

“Not of all vampires.” His friend corrected him and ran a hand through his hair. “Just of this region.”

“Continent.” Ignis couldn’t help to correct. “If you are to tell him everything, make sure he has the right information.” He carefully folded his hands over his chest. “Now, will you please answer my question? Why did you want to see our prince tonight?”

Prompto had once more three pairs of piercing eyes on him. He swallowed loudly as he gathered his courage. “Is…Is that such an odd thing?” He tried to force a smile at them. “I mean… How else are you suppose…to friend someone?”

“Friends? With a vampire?” The vampire adjusted his glasses to look carefully at the blond young man. “For what purpose?”

“Purpose?” Prompto blinked. “Ah… Companion…ship?” He jumped as Gladio loudly started to laugh. “I-I mean! He saved my life! He seemed like a good person! I just---!” His eyes searched the wooden floor as if the words he was looking for would just pop out of the cracks. “Why am I even being questioned for this?” He said suddenly and met Ignis’ gaze. How he got the courage to formulate the question was beyond him, but Gladio stopped laughing, Noctis blinked and Ignis unfolded his arms. “I just want…to be his friend. I knew he was a vampire, but I had no idea he was a prince. But it doesn’t matter to me. Maybe we won’t get along at all. But you know what? I won’t know until I’ve tried. And I won’t blame his ‘vampire’ nature if things go wrong. It’s who we are and not what we are that determine our actions!”

After his passionate speech, the blond felt the blush on his cheeks and yet, he did his best to not look away from Ignis who was analyzing him or so he thought. Meanwhile, Noctis looked at both his bodyguards with a proud smile, because Prompto delivered exactly the kind of speech he was hoping for to make them understand why he promised to meet him again tonight.

“You are still confined to your quarters for the coming days.” Ignis suddenly said, breaking the silence caused by the teenager’s speech.

“What? Why?!” Noctis asked him as he turned his heels to walk back to the door.

Ignis stopped and looked over his shoulder. “You still left the city without us, Noct. We trusted you and you broke that trust.” He held up two fingers. “Twice.” He lowered his hand. “If you want some space, Gladio and I can provide it to you and it is our duty to make sure you have it in a safe environment. Moreover, your attitude has negative impacts on me and Gladio. You make us look incompetent by acting so childishly.” Noctis winced at the word. “Do not forget who you are, Noct. You are the only heir of King Regis and the house of Lucis. You cannot leave the city without an escort. Your safety is important.” He watched the prince sulking, but he didn’t try to argue. He knew Ignis was right about everything. “We are leaving.”

“What?!” Both teenagers said at the same time and the tall man sighed before turning completely toward them.

“It is late and Prompto is not like us.” Ignis saw the hurt in Prompto’s face so he quickly added, “As a human, he needs to get to bed at this hour.” Hope brightened the young man’s face once more. “You will talk with him another time.”

“And when will that be?” Noctis asked, hopeful.

“I need to check with your schedule, but I suppose you have some availability after you have proven us that we can trust you once more.” He adjusted his glasses. “We will have to keep your visits hidden from the people of this city, but we must inform his Majesty that you are developing a friendship with a human. It will make the correspondence easier and will explain your frequent visits outside.” He gives the prince a look. “No more lies to us. Understood?”

As Noctis agreed to these terms with a sulky expression, Prompto couldn’t shake the feeling that Ignis was a lot more pissed off than he let on. Gladio remained silent during most of the time, but he didn’t seem that angry.

“Good. Now, it is time to let Prompto rest.” Ignis looked at the young man who didn’t move from his spot on the sofa. “We will see ourselves out. I promise you will have news of the prince sooner than you expect it. We will not forget you.”

“A-Alright. Hmmm… Good…night? I guess?” The blond told them with his usual awkward smile. He got a couple of chuckles as answer and after Noctis told him good night as well, they were gone.

Once they were out the city, Gladio walked up to be at his prince’s side.

“The time to hunt daemons behind our back is over.” He told him. “Do us all a favor and be more of a team player, alright?”

Noctis presses his lips together before answering. “How long have you known?”

“A while.” Ignis replied without looking at Noctis. The chill tone of his voice made it clear that he was furious.

“If you wanted a bigger challenge, you just had to ask.” Gladio continued. He wasn’t happy with Noctis either, but at the same time, he wasn’t surprised.

“You wouldn’t have let me.” The younger vampire argued, but his larger bodyguard chuckled before patting heavily on his shoulder.

“Hey… I did let you kill that iron giant last night, didn’t I?” He grinned at the prince who looked shocked by the confession. “What? You really believed you could shake us off your tail? Come on, Noct. You know us better than that.”

“To think you put that young man in danger by shadowing him in hope he would get attack…” Ignis’ calm façade cracked under his frown.

“It wasn’t like that! I wasn’t hoping for them to appear! I wanted to make sure he would get back safely!” Noctis reached for Ignis’ shoulder and spun him around. “Listen to me!”

“Are you going to lie to me again?” It wasn’t hurt that came out of his voice, but disappointment. And that hurt Noctis a lot more than he thought possible.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” The prince lowered his head. “I’m sorry that I ran away and didn’t tell either of you. I just…” His fists clutched at his sides. “I needed to know what I was capable of. By myself. Ever since I was born, you guys have been there for me. Always. And we’re bound to be together for the rest of our lives and let’s face it, as vampires, that’s a really _really_ long time.”

“You are 16, Noctis. Are you telling me that you are already tired of us?” Ignis asked a bit more delicately this time.

“No.” He shook his head. “I suppose I was childish, like you said earlier. I wanted to test my skills without you guys chaperoning me.”

“What about Prompto?” Gladio folded his arms over his chest.

“I met him by accident. I don’t think he saw me until I jumped in to save him. I know we should have as little contact as possible with humans because of how unpredictable they are. So, I kept my distance, but… He didn’t run away when he fell from his chocobo. He chose to stay and shoot that iron giant to save that chocobo even if he wasn’t sure it would work. He could have run and save himself but he didn’t! He chose to save the bird instead!” He looked at them both. “I couldn’t let him die.”

“So it was not out of guilt that you accepted his invitation?” Ignis looked carefully at Noctis.

“He talked to me like I was a person. So I thought ‘why not?’” The prince shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.

“Very well.” Anger didn’t leave him, but he was satisfied with the answers. He knew of Noct’s true intentions from the start. They were almost raised together, after all. He knew his prince like one else. Still, Ignis wanted him to realize the consequences of his acts. As his advisor, it was his job to help, but more importantly, he wanted to make a point about the lies. He nodded to the road ahead. “We better hurry back before someone notice you have been absent.” When both his companions nodded, he turned around and led them home.

\---

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. What was supposed to be a friendship between two people grew to include Ignis and Gladio, much to Prompto’s happiness. Finally, he had good friends! Sure, he had to stay up late at night to spend time with them, but Ignis always made sure he would go to bed to a decent hour. After a while, he got used to his ‘nightlife’.

However, as time passed, Noctis couldn’t help but notice how empty Prompto’s house was. The fact that his parents were always away made it quite easy for them to meet and spend time together without worrying the citizens of the city, but at the same time, the young vampire got more and more worried about his friend being all by himself most of the time.

Not to mention that they couldn’t always see each other every day. Ignis forbad any meetings when Prompto had exams coming up and other nights, Noctis had royal obligations to fulfill. Their friendship didn’t suffer from it, but after three years, a little idea emerged from the young vampire prince’s mind and Ignis was the first one to hear it.

“No.” He told Noctis after he carefully listened to his entire reasoning.

“Why not?” The prince leaned back in his chair.

“This isn’t like adopting a chocobo, Noct. Prompto is his own person. He has a life. He has a family.” Ignis neatly folded his fingers in front of him, on the table.

“You can’t call them a family! Ignis, his parents are just _never_ there!” Noctis waved a hand around before letting it fall back at his side. “He’s lonely. You know that.”

“And so are you. This will not fill the emptiness you feel.” When he saw the look on the prince’s face, Ignis immediately regretted saying those words. “My apologies. My mouth moved quicker than my thoughts.”

“If I didn’t know you better, Ignis, I would say that you’re jealous.” Noctis crossed his arms and sulked. There was no point to continue this conversation when his advisor was like this. So he stopped talking and tried to find something to stare at that wasn’t Ignis’ perfect face.

Ignis hated it when the young vampire was like this because every time he was, it was his fault.

It was stupid of him to feel jealousy over Noctis’ relationship with Prompto. They weren’t even flirty with each other. The young human always made his prince smile and laugh. He shared his passion of photography with him. He welcomed he and Gladio without a second thought. And if he was being honest with himself, Ignis liked having Prompto around as well. Not that he ever expressed that verbally and today wasn’t going to be the day that he would.

His sigh broke the silence. “I am simply concerned about Prompto’s well-being. What if he regrets his decision and wants to go back to his old life? What if his parents come after us, thinking we stole their child?”

Noctis sighed as well and looked at his advisor again. “Aside from you and Gladio, when he looks at me, he sees _me_. He always saw me. He never freaked out about me being a vampire and he never asked me how he should address me when he found out I was a prince.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re growing together now, but at some point, I’ll stop aging and he won’t. He’ll get grey hair, arthritism and a bad eyesight before I can even sit on the throne.” He shrugged. “He gave me so much these last few years. I just thought…it was time for me to give something back.”

“Actually, you want to take something away to give him something else in return.” Ignis pointed out. “But I understand. You want him to have companionship. To be surrounded by people who cares for him.” He unfolded his fingers and put one hand on top of the other. “You want to offer him the family he never had.” When Noctis nodded, Ignis sighed again. “Invited him over to live here is not enough, is it?”

“He’ll be alone here in a different setting. It’s not better. It’s worse.” He rolled his eyes at his advisor and the latter just squinted his eyes at him.

“I saw that eyeroll.” He warned Noctis.

“Look, I know what turning him implies. He’ll be bound to me forever and I’m cool with that. I want to talk to him about it.” The prince said.

“There are a lot of rules about turning a human into a vampire. There is a lot of red tape as well.” After yet another sigh, Ignis adjusted his glasses. “But I can see that your mind is set. Let me look through the procedures. It will be vital for Prompto to receive all the information regarding this so he can make a well-informed decision.”

\---

It was a peaceful night. The moon was high in the sky and the stars shone brightly. There was not a cloud in sight. Most of the citizens of Hammerhead were asleep at this hour. Few houses still had a light inside and tonight, Prompto’s home was one of the dark ones for once.

Ignis sat quietly in the living room with a book in hand. With his vampire eyes, the dim light of the moon pouring inside the house from the windows were enough. His fist rested on his left cheek while his right hand held the book. He only moved to turn the pages.

“It’s going to be fine, Iggy.” Gladio spoke softly but even then, the other vampire was lightly startled by the interruption. “You need to calm down.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Gladio. I am calm.” He went back to his book.

“Uh huh. That’s why your index keeps tapping your cheekbone.” The bodyguard remained in the kitchen, making small patrols around the house from time to time to make sure Noctis wouldn’t be disturb.

Ignis gave up and closed his book. “It is a delicate process and I wish I could be there to help him.”

“Iggy, you prepared him fine. You know as well me that turning a human into a vampire is a private thing. He has to do this on his own. You’ll only make things more awkward if you’re there.” Gladio puts his hands on his hips.

“I know. I simply cannot help it.” He looked at the ceiling. Above them, the turning was about to happen if it wasn’t already happening. Tomorrow night, Prompto will wake up to be one of them and they’ll take him back to Insomnia. His room was ready and Ignis already prepared a schedule for him to follow to get used to his new life with them. “Sometimes, I wonder if I guide him properly.”

“Have more faith in him, Iggy. He’ll surprise you in more ways than one.” Gladio smiled to himself as if he knew something Ignis didn’t.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Prompto and Noctis locked themselves in Prompto’s room. The blond finished the last of his luggage. He couldn’t hide his shaking hands and he laughed at himself.

“Look at me. I’m so stressed that I can’t even close this one up.” He told Noctis without looking at him.

“Hey… It’s alright. You don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to.” His friend put a hand on his shoulder.

It felt nice to know that Noctis was not pushing him into this. He thought long and hard about his proposition and even if he was scared, he wanted to do it. He wanted to follow his friend to Insomnia. They told him about what he could do and what it meant to be one of them. He wanted to be Noct’s bodyguard and take pictures. Even if he couldn’t see the daylight again, he looked forward to master the night light to make stunning pictures.

He would have friends. They _wanted_ him. He wouldn’t be alone anymore. There was no way he was going to pass this up.

“Nah. It’s fine. I… I want to get through with this.” He tells the vampire.

“You sure? Because you can change your mind. It’s alright. You won’t lose my friendship if you don’t want to go through with this.” Noctis reassured him with a smile.

“We’ve been planning this for months, Noct.” Prompto smiled back. “I’m a bit scared, but I want to do this. You and the guys prepared me for this. I’m not thinking it’s going to be better. But at least, I’ll be with you guys. It won’t be as lonely as now.” He patted his friend’s hand and after a shaky breath, he nodded to him. “Do it. I’m ready.”

Noctis looked at his friend for a while. The moonlight passed through the bedroom window all the way to the locked door. The silence was randomly interrupted by a car outside driving down the street. The young vampire could hear the heartbeat of his friend clearly. It reminded him of the flapping sounds of a bird.

Slowly, he pulled Prompto closer to him. The young man’s heartbeat increased, but his blue eyes shown conviction. He was not going to change his mind in the middle of it. Perhaps he was just worried about the pain he would feel and Noctis couldn’t blame him. Being born as a vampire, this was something he couldn’t help him with. Not even with all the compassion he had. He couldn’t tell him it wouldn’t hurt or how much it would.

With the sole intention of helping his friend to calm down, Noctis slowly closed their gap between them by softly kissing Prompto. The blond blushed at this gesture, but it happened so naturally that he closed his eyes and let it happen. There was something relaxing in kissing Noctis. Perhaps knowing it had no romantic meaning helped. Prompto knew where Noct’s heart lied…and he knew where Prompto’s was.

But dammit, he wished his pants didn’t feel so tight right now.

As the blond hummed into the kiss, the vampire moved his lips to the corner of the teenager’s mouth then to his jaw. Without realizing it, Prompto offered his neck to him and Noctis accepted it by kissing it as gently as he could.

Prompto didn’t remember much more after that. His head felt light and the room spun around. He fell into Noctis’ arms and…that was all his memory could remember when he started coming to.

He didn’t feel any different. Was that it? Really? It felt like a moment has passed.

“Ugh… Dude… Turn off the light, would you?” The blond winced when he tried to open his eyes. His only answer was Noctis’ laugh.

“I can’t exactly turn off the moon, you know.” His friend told him before he heard curtains being drawn.

“Don’t… Don’t shout. Please.” Prompto tried to sit up and risked to open his eyes again. Only a ray of light poured inside and yet, he could see Noctis as clearly as if they were outside during daylight.

“I’m not.” Noctis laughed once more. However, he carefully lowered his voice. “How do you feel?”

“Like I just have the biggest hungover of my life.” Prompto rubbed an eye with his palm. “Everything is so aggressing right now.”

“That’s because your senses are stronger than before. You’ll get used to it.” Noctis told him before pressing his lips against his again. Prompto didn’t know it yet, but he’ll hear that last sentence a lot for the next couple of years.

Was it the sexual tension for longing for too long for a man who didn’t notice him yet or was it a thing between a vampire and the one he turned? Prompto didn’t know, but it felt nice to have Noctis kiss him again. And he would love him to do something about that pressure in his pants.

And as if he could read his thoughts, he did.

It was far from a sensual encounter like it was described in all vampire novels. More like something done out of need would be closer to the truth. It was quick and quite messy. What else was it expected from two young vampires who had no experience before that night? Prompto, overpowered by his new senses, let Noct take the lead and when everything was done, they just lied on the bed, half dressed, and stared at the ceiling.

“That was…” Prompto didn’t know what to say. Everything he was thinking sounded dumb right now.

“Yeah.” Noctis replied.

The new vampire fidgeted a bit with his fingers. “Hmmm…” He coughed a bit. “What…just happened exactly?”

“I don’t know. I was happy and I wanted it. You seemed like you wanted it too judging from that bump in your pants.” Noctis shrugged. “I guess we both were caught in the moment.”

The blond took a moment to ponder on that. “Yeah… I think you’re right.” He looked at his friend. “Is Ignis going to kill me for that?”

“If he ever wants to, I guess it would mean that he cares for me in that way, but that’s not going to happen. Don’t worry. His job is too important.” The prince tried to sound like he was over his feelings for his advisor, but Prompto knew better.

They remained in bed like that for a while, chatting about random things. It was as if the sex never happened. Neither of them wanted this moment to end which it was odd since now that Prompto was a vampire, they had all the time in the world now.

It was Noctis who reluctantly said they had to leave the room. He didn’t want Ignis or Gladio knock on the door to break that moment and judging by how late it was, they were about to kick the door open if they didn’t hear from either of them soon.

Both cleaned their mess and the prince smiled at his friend, one of the blond’s bags in his hand. “Are you ready to go home?”

Prompto looked at the door, a smile on his lips. “Yeah… Yeah, I’m ready.”

And he opened it.


End file.
